The Martlet

Palestinian-Israeli issues are not new territory for director Eytan Fox, who broke into the international market with his compelling look at two homosexual Israeli soldiers in Yassi & Jagger. Fox’s most recent film, The Bubble, explores the friendship between three roommates, Noam, Lulu and Yelli, along with their relationships and the unfolding of everyday life in the Westernized city of Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The film opens with a tense sequence at a military checkpoint. A failed pregnancy involving some calloused soldiers sets the stage for what appears to be a politically charged film. However, what follows, for the most part, is quite the opposite.

Released in late 2007 and appearing at the Toronto Film Festival, the majority of the film takes place in and around the urban Sheiken Street district of Tel-Aviv. North American popular culture floods the airwaves and is inserted into the lives of the characters, as if to distract them from the chaos that envelopes them. Noam even hangs a picture of Kurt Cobain on his wall adjacent to a portrait of his mother.

The central love interest is between Noam (Ohad Knolles) and Ashraf (Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid). They meet through an encounter at an Israeli checkpoint and now that Noam’s time with the military is up they hope to begin a relationship. There’s only one problem: Ashraf is Palestinian.

Noam convinces his roommates, Yelli (also homosexual) and Lulu, to allow Ashraf to crash at their place, since being openly gay in Palestine is forbidden. Noam also talks Yelli into supplying Ashraf with a job at Yelli’s café. Things seem to be going well, until Lulu’s ex-boyfriend enters the café and identifies Ashraf as a Palestinian. Petrified, Ashraf flees the city and returns to his Palestinian home.

The “bubble” refers to the city of Tel Aviv. When juxtaposed with the surrounding area, the city appears highly romanticized, bordering on the Mediterranean with its bright lights, high rise buildings and urban centers. Life appears to be running more or less normally, despite the turbulent conditions that lie just outside the city regions. A patron in the coffee shop where Yelli works scolds the people of Tel Aviv, accusing the inhabitants of living in a bubble, totally disconnected from reality.

And in a sense they are. Yelli, Noam and Ashraf help Lulu promote a rave for peace titled, “Rave Against the Occupation,” as Lulu storms the streets shouting: “We don’t want the territories, we want to dance.” But reality kicks in when a scuffle ensues with some nearby pedestrians, as society is still divided over current issues and not everyone shares their liberal ideologies.

Politics are intentionally kept on the back burner for the majority of the film. Fox is more interested in demonstrating how these characters cope with the tumultuous times. Whenever a discussion begins about politics, someone quickly changes the subject. At one point the television is on with a news headline reading, “A 14-year-old boy killed by gunfire.” Yelli inquires if there is anything good on and Noam replies, “The usual stuff.”

The characters don’t ignore what’s going on around them — they acknowledge it. But how far can they let their circumstance govern their entire life, and do they have a choice?

Something else must exist outside of the turmoil they are surrounded with that permits them to believe happiness is possible. The characters spend so much time immersed in their psychologically constructed safe houses that we can tell well in advance that all good things are going to come to an end.

The film exists as a sort of tragic romantic comedy drama; it’s not really sure what it wants to be. The comedy is very light and seems more like sitcom material with only some of the humour finding its mark. However, the point here is not to add humour solely for our amusement but more to illustrate that these characters still laugh and are able to poke fun at their situation.

The film could have easily slipped to the heavy-handed side as Fox tiptoes along the line of sensationalism, keeping the political sphere relatively under wraps until the end.

Then the film begins to feel weighted and melodramatic as the subconscious bubble created by our characters begins to burst. A predictable and contrived finale reminding us of the painful reality.

The film is an interesting and engaging look at a society living in a Westernized bubble and the encompassing tragedy that penetrates it. Still, love can exist even in dangerous times. It’s something worth living for, and something worth dying for.